"E. C. Tubb - Dumarest 01 - The Winds of Gath" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tubb E. C)

situation on Gath. Continue as directed."

That was all.

The rest was sheer mental intoxication.

There was always this period after rapport during which the
Homochon elements sank back into quiescence and the
machinery of the body began to realign itself with mental
control. Dyne floated in a black nothingness while he sensed
strange memories and unlived situationsтАФscraps of overflow
from other intelligences, the throw-away waste of other minds.
The power of central intelligence of the tremendous cybernetic
complex was the heart of the Cyclan.

One day he would be a part of that intelligence. His body
would age and his senses dull but his mind would remain as
active as ever. Then they would take him and rid his intelligence
of the hampering flesh so that he could join the others, hooked in
series to the naked brains pulsing in their nutrient fluid,
thousands and thousands of such brains all tuned to a common
end.

Millions of such brains, perhaps. Millions of freed
intelligences working to solve the problems of the universe.

A gestalt against which there could be no resistance.




Chapter Five


MEGAN LEFT the church, the taste of the wafer strong in his
mouth, the euphoric drug with which it had been treated
banishing his depression. It was always like this after he had
been cleansed. He felt strong and fit and full of inner quietude.
The mood would last for a time and then would begin to fade.
Then, if the church was still around, he would go back for
another wafer.

He found Dumarest sitting on a dune by the shore staring out
to sea. He held a great bunch of grass in one hand and slowly
pulled each stem between his teeth. After every dozen or so stems
he swallowed the collected pulp. Discarded grass lay in a mound
between his feet. He lacked the digestive system which would
have converted the cellulose into nourishment.

Megan squatted beside him. He found stones and idly tossed